DRAGONFLY

We received this photo today can anyone identfy the name of dragonfly please?
it was seen in the Horse and Jockey area on 03/10/2010

MIGRANTS

The warm Southeasterlies are bringing many migrants in tow from Southern Europe at the moment.

Recent observations are of Vestal moths all over Ireland ,the one above came to a mothtrap in Horse and Jockey on Sunday 10/10/10.A species of Southern Europe and North Africa has been appearing in greater numbers since the 80s.Apparently the warmer it is redder the cross line is!

On 11/10/10 while visiting Cabraghwetlands a Little Egret was seen in the main pond which is being cleaned at the moment ,while a small colony has been seen over the last few years this was the first sighting this Autumn.As we were so busy admiring it we forgot the camera, and Kevin Collins BWI kindly supplied the photo.

Kevin also reported seeing Migrant Hawker dragonflies near both hides in Cabragh during the last week,a first for Tipperary.They apparently like to operate in groups and don"t mind attention ,and he sent us this lovely image showing the yellow "golf tee"on back of thorax which makes it easy to identfy.
This is a species mainly from the Mediterranean and southern Europe,it has only been recorded in Ireland since 2000.It prefers eutrophic waters and only breeds in warmer climates so its gradual northwards movement is seen as evidence of global warming .

THE VAPOURER MOTH (DISPERSAL)

On October 5th 2009 I found a moth on the outside of my hall window to which it had been drawn by a light.On seeking to identify it I found it was a Vapourer moth ,a male easily diagnosed as the female has no wings,(yes no wings,it sits beside the cocoon from which it has emerged ,mates ,and lays eggs on the outside of the cocoon and dies).
On  24/09/2010 while walking I found the caterpillar of the Vapourer feeding on willow ,its very distictive and quite colourful.

I brought it home to show my children and when I went to release it the following day it had cocooned itself ,so I left it in its container,given its small size I thought it was likely to be a female as there was no way it could produce wings as big as the male.

Today 10/10/10 it hatched ,a small wingless insect ,woolly,swollen with eggs to be fertilised,its sole function to mate by attracting males using pherones.It will then die leaving the eggs to overwinter before hatching in batches from end of March on.

Given that the female can"t fly,the dispersal of the species is dependant on how far the caterpillar can travel from the pupating site,so it is quite local, and very dependent on its habitat not changing suddenly. Allowing for predation by birds etc it has a tough battle to survive without any environmental change.Another reason why we have to be careful in our environmental  actions.

SPIDER ID?

We received the following email from Anne Marie Looby
"Hello Cabragh Wetlands
love your pics of sunset
yesterday evening found this unusual spider on the wall of my house does anyone know what type of spider it is.

Ann Marie

Hi Anne Marie
                       I think your spider is a Garden Spider (Araneus diadematus),fairly common at this time of year,this looks like it might be a female which are larger than males.

MARSH FRITILLARY BUTTERFLIES.

The Cabragh wetlands article in The Tipperary Star issue dated 30/09/2010 had as its main theme a Marsh Fritillary workshop held in Cabragh.Below is a brief life history of a larval web in Doireville Littleton.

This is a picture of the larval web in which they live for the first few months protected from the weather and most predators by the web. 05/10/2009

After feeding until mid October they retreat into a denser web in undergrowth called a "Hibernaculum" where they hibernate till the end of Febuary or early March.
Then they come out to bask on dry grasses and feed again on Devils bit scabious their only foodplant as below.01/03/2010

As they get bigger they get more independent and leave the web and scatter to pupate in very distictive pupas on grass and other vegetation.09/05/2010

In mid May they hatch and fly out to mate and start the cycle all over again

This protected species is in decline due to habitat loss ,it needs open sparse ground with lots of Devils bit scabious,Drainage ,forestry and under/overgrazing are big threats to its survival,It also lives in meta populations,movng a few hundred meters perhaps every year making habitat management difficult,hopefully efforts by the NPWS will halt its decline.

Hello all,welcome to our new link where we hope to help you enjoy the great biodiversity around us.Knowing whats around us helps us to keep track of changes that may be slowly eroding the natural biodiverity of our environment over time.We would like to have reports of what you see,where it was seen ,when and on what it was feeding  if you can.If you don"t know or are unsure of an identity send us a photo and or description and we will try to help identify it.
Below is an example of what we will try to do,

2028 Pale Tussock Calliteara pudibunda

This photo  was sent in by S. Maher who found this caterpillar in Ballycahill last week,we have identified it as a Pale Tussock moth larva .
Adult moths fly in May - June and like the larva are quite hairy,the larva feed on deciduous trees and shrubs and were a serious pest of hops when they were grown commercially.
It is only locally common in Ireland and hasn"t been officially recorded in Tipperary since the mid 90s according to moths Ireland.

                                                                          Tipperary Biodiversity.

This was photographed in a reedbed area in Cabragh Wetlands near Thurles in May 2010.